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Best Debating Practises
SB is a very particular community in a lot of ways. Odd? Yes. Demanding? Always. Rude? Very often. But it's home, and we like it. For newcomers, here's the very basics you need to know about how to get along well on SB: Rules SB technically has rules, although since the early conversion to XF in spring of 2012, they haven't been reposted anywhere on the forums. In practise, though, the best and only rule is to use your common sense. There's more than enough traffic on SB, and the members are more than ornery enough, that if you lurk for even a little while you'll get the basic ideas of what's accepted and what isn't. A short list of rules here. Profanity and Rudeness Unlike some other forums, SB can be a bit...coarse, at times. Some posters like to be extremely aggressive. In general, SB has always generally followed a simple rule of thumb: You can insult people as long as you have a point. "You're an enormous fucknut because the Federal Reserve Bank says that Line 325 of the 33rd General Revenue Projection demonstrates you're totally out of your fucking mind" is probably alright. "Fuck you you enormous wanker, and your mother sucks donkey cock!" is probably not. Many of the more prolific posters tend to take a very no-holds-barred approach to posting: they are aggressive, argumentative, and often have very short fuses. Posters such as Foamy, MJ12 Commando, and Gamesguy are well known for this sort of posting. It's best not to take it personally. Retaliate if you must, but remember that retaliation is only allowed when it clothes an actual argument. Pornography and Being a Creeper SB has very strict rules against pornography, either written or visual. Some posters have at times attempted to skirt this line, especially with non-human characters (a particularly memorable piece of written fiction involving robots comes to mind), but this is never allowed. If you follow the following rules, you'll be fine: 1. No explicit or implied sexual acts, either in visual media or text. 2. Nothing that wouldn't be covered by a bikini on a woman or swim trunks on a guy in visual media. 3. Nothing that would, in general, cause the average person on the street to go "Fuck, you look at that?" Please do not upset Hollewander, who for some reason tends to get the brunt of having to go through and sift out this content. Note that this isn't entirely a moral crusade. SB's main benefactor, Kier, pays for the site and runs it as a demonstration and testbed for his board software. It also recieves some money from Google advertisements. Google doesn't like porn, and Kier doesn't seem to think his clients would either. It's a small price to pay. Sources and Arguments SB has almost a fetishistic attraction to sourcing arguments and presenting evidence. Links, quotes, citations- the more of them you can provide the better, and from impartial and valid sources. Often, new posters with strong opinions are caught up in the rush to provide an opinion, and are surprised and upset when someone berates or batters them back. It's important to come prepared to any argument you intend to enter- and on SB, stating an opinion is taken as intention to enter an argument. SB's sourcing policy generally applies to all forums, including Non Sci-Fi Debates and The War Room. Vs debate policy is fairly strict on this issue, because canon policy is so important in versus debates (see canon) but sourcing arguments is still demanded even in policy debates in other forums. (See also sources.)